The Federal Government have been busy on housing policy, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers announcing two significant housing policies over the last two weeks, set to have impacts on both the ability to buy a home and housing supply.
2 Year Freeze on Foreign Buyers buying Existing Property
The Federal Government will be banning foreign buyers from buying established homes for two years and will also crack down on foreign land banking.
The ban will be introduced from the 1st April 2025 and will be in place until the 31st March 2027 where a review will be undertaken to determine whether it should be extended beyond this point.
Changes to those with a HECS Debt who want to buy a property
The federal government has also announced that those with a HECS debt will be able to have their HECS debt payments excluded from their loan assessment if the borrower is close too paying off their debt.
The move may be able to increase borrowers capacity as currently, borrowers capacity can be reduced even though student loans don’t require repayments if the borrower earns below a certain threshold.
